Amazon launched its latest Kindle eReader recently
with a lower price point. The catch, however, was that users would be bombarded
with ads while the device was sitting idle. The surprising thing for many when
the new Kindle launched was that it was only $25 less than the version that
doesn't require ads. The big question on many minds was if consumers would buy
thead-supported
versionsto save a few bucks.

It appears that the answer is yes; thead-supported
Kindleat $114 has taken over the top spot for best-selling
electronics on Amazon.com. Granted, most take that with a grain of salt since Amazon
provides the numbers. The fact that the ad-supported version took the top spot
is impressive and might herald a new rush of cheaper eReaders from other
providers that are ad-supported.

There is a chance that an ad-supported version
might be more lucrative for Amazon and others than the standard version. That
would depend on the price Amazon is able to charge for ads.

While the ad-supported Kindle is doing well in
the market, there is rising speculation that Amazon may
be readying a tablet. Amazon certainly has the customer base to sell a
tablet and could leverage some of the eReader systems already in place for the
tablet.

Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath - I don't really have a need for an e-reader, wife is the big reader in the family. She's debating between a e-ink device or something like the Nook.

Personally, I would take the Nook in a second if it was a non-neutered Android tablet but it still can't use the Android Marketplace. My wife, on the other hand, wants to get an e-reader for actually reading books........c'mon, who does that? :)

The Nook is a e-ink device. The Nook Color, which is what I think you are referring to, has a LCD display.

After 10-15 minutes, the Nook Color is a fully functioning Android tablet with full Market access. CM7 is fully stable Gingerbread, and the universally accepted best ROM package is Phiremod.

Also, since it boots from SD card, it is impossible to brick, and you can do other neat things like install full Android onto the uSD card, and when you remove the card, it goes back to completely stock with full warranty intact. Cool, eh?

So if you load a new ROM the Nook Color can take advantage of all the apps in the Android Marketplace unless they require GPS or something similar right? If so, that may give me some ammo in my case for a Nook Color. Thanks.

You can either "root" the stock firmware on the Nook Color and gain Android Marketplace and get other apps, like launchers that make it look different than the stock launcher. Acts just like a decent Android tablet, yet still retains all of the base NC functionality, like Read-to-me books and in store free reading.

Or, you can completely rewrite the firmware with the latest CM7 (Gingerbread) and have a fantastic tablet. Phiremod is based on CM7 and is great.

Or as I mentioned, if you're nervous about getting your feet wet, you can burn the firmware onto a uSD card and then boot into that, and when you remove the card it's bone stock again. Does require a fast card to make it usable, Class 6 as a minimum, Class 10 even better.